Introduction:

In almost all societies a significant number ofrnschool students have been survivors of school bullying.rnFleming and Jacobsen 2010 found out that in the U.Srnapproximately 30 of students who were involved inrnbullying were either perpetrators 13.0 victimsrn10.6 or bullying/victims 6.7 of some type ofrnbullying. In Latin America the prevalence of bullyingrnranged between 40-50. Large scale surveys carriedrnout in individual countries have also reported bullyingrnrates of between 4-9 per cent in western countries andrn47-73 per cent in developing countries. A review ofrnstudies done by Chan and Wog the prevalence ofrnbullying victimization ranged from 2 to 66 inrnChina 20 to 62 in studies done in Hong Kongrn24 to 50 Taiwan. This statistics indicates thatrnbullying among adolescents is a major concern in bothrndeveloped and developing countries. Kenya being arndeveloping country a similar study was important a s itrnassisted in reporting on social-cultural similarities orrndifferences if any.rnFarrington and Baldry indicated thatrnwhile some socio-demographic features like agernrace gender and ones ethnicity are significantrnpredictors of bullying and behaviour amongrnadolescents. Baldry noted that bullying seriouslyrnimpacts on students personal sense of safety andrnacademic performance. In a study by National Centrernfor Educational Statistics in the U.S it wasrndiscovered that 33 of high school going studentsrnstated that they were bullied at school at least on onernday on because they felt unsafe at school. Among thernstudents who reported being bullied 13 were madernfun of called names or insulted 12 were the subjectrnof rumours 5 were pushed shoved tripped or spatrnon and 5 were excluded from activities on purpose.rnIn an effort to address bullying in schools Centre for Disease Control in America has made bullyingrnprevention a national priority and aims at increasingrnsafety in school and advocates for adoption andrnimplementation of the anti-bullying policies in therncoming decade. This prompted the study tornestablish the extent of bullying among adolescents inrnsecondary school.

Objectives:

The purpose of the study w a s t o investigate the relationship between emerging forms of bullying and depressionrnamong students in Bungoma County Kenya

Methodology:

The Social-Ecological Theory and Psychosocial Theory guided the study.rnThe research population was 29040 Form Three students. Deputy Principals and Guidance and Counseling teachersrnfrom 360 secondary schools were the study respondents. A sample size of 399 students was drawn from boys girlsrnand co-education schools. Form Three Students were randomly selected from the sampled schools. The study adoptedrna cross-sectional research design using a mixed-method approach. Both qualitative and quantitative data was collectedrnconcurrently. Stratified random sampling and simple random sampling was used to sample schools and studentsrnrespectively. A pilot study was conducted on the 30 Form Three students selected from three categories of secondaryrnschools in Bungoma County. Data was collected using a self-response questionnaire and interview schedule guide.rnQuantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics namely mean standard deviation and percentages we r ernused to describe data. Inferential statistics such as Pearson Correlation statistics ANOVA were used to test thernsignificance of the stated hypothesis at the alpha level 0.05. The qualitative data was thematically analyzed basedrnon the objective and presented in a prose form. All analysis was done using the statistical package for social sciencesrnSPSS version 21.0. The findings revealed that there was a positive relationship between emerging forms of bullyingrnand depression R2 .304 30.4.

Findings:

Results:

Multiple regression analysis was conducted tornascertain which form of bullying substantially predictedrndepression. In model 1 cyberbullying stalking sexualrnbullying and social exclusion were entered. To establishrnthe relationship between the emerging forms ofrnbullying and depression for secondary schoolsrnstudents in Bungoma County a multiple regressionrnanalysis was used. The regression model was of thernform where:rnD is the level of depression is the level ofrncyberbullying is the level of social exclusion is thernlevel of sexual bullying is the level of stalking and isrnthe constant of the regression equation.rnTo assess the amount of variation inrndepression that can be explained by the emerging formsrnof bullying the coefficient of determination was used. The results indicate that the coefficient ofrndetermination Rrn2rn 0.304 was obtained. Thisrnindicated that 30.4 of the variation in levels ofrndepression for the sample of 399 students surveyedrncould be explained by the changes in the levels ofrncyberbullying and stalking while 69.6 remainsrnunexplained.rnIn assessing whether the model with the twornindependent variables can significantly predict thernbehaviour outcome the F-statistic from thernANOVA was used Fstatistics results reveal that the independent variablesrncyberbullying and stalking significantly predict thernlevels of depression among the secondary schoolrnstudents in Bungoma County F4394 42.933 p rn0.05. According to Geller 2009 ANOVA is used torntest the significance of variation in the dependentrnvariable that can be attributed to the regression of onernor more independent variables. Employment of thisrnstatistical procedure produces a calculated F valuernthat is compared to a critical F value for arnparticular level of statistical probability. Obtaining arnsignificant F value indicates that the results of thernregression are indeed true and not the consequence ofrnchance.rnIn assessing the significance of the multiplernregression coefficients in the model the t-test forrnregression coefficients and the standardized betarnvalues were used. The unstandardized regressionrncoefficients the standardized beta coefficients To testing the statistical significance of thernregression coefficients the t-test together with the pvalues were used as indicated in Table-3. In testing thernsignificance of the cyberbullying X1 coefficient tvalue of 2.61 was obtained and since p0.009 thernstudy concluded that there the influence on therncyberbullying on the levels of depression among thernsecondary school students in Bungoma County wasrnstatistically significant. Likewise the influence ofrnstalking on the levels of depression was established tornbe statistically significant t3.320 p0.000. Thernstudy therefore rejected the null hypothesis. The studyrnfindings are similar to findings by WilliamsrnLanghinrichsen-Rohling Wornell and Finnegan rnwho established that females who reported beingrnvictims of cyberbullying reported depressive symptoms

Conclusion:

This study found that there was a positivernrelationship between the emerging forms of bullyingrnand depression among students in Bungoma County.rnSpecifically the study showed that the more thernstudents experienced any of the two emerging forms ofrnbullying the more they were likely to be depressed.rnWhen the effects of other predictor were held constantrnstaking was the major predictor of depression. Thisrnimplied that during adolescence acceptance by peers isrnan important aspect of their development as theyrnindividuate from their parents so being deliberately leftrnout has a psychological impact on their mental health.rnBased on the finding that cyberbullying and stalkingrncan significantly predict the levels of depressionrnamong secondary school students in Bungoma County

Author(s):

Focus County(s):

Bungoma County

Programme Area(s):

Non-Communicable Diseases

Research Priority Area(s):

Disease Domain(s):

mental health

Publication Date: 29.Sep.2019

Conference Title:

Venue: